Get 3 audiobooks free with a 30-Day Free Trial Sign Up Free

Encounters at the Heart of the World: A History of the Mandan People

Read Read Own Own

Unabridged Audiobook

Listen Free Now
  • Listen free with a 30-day free trial
  • Choose 2 bonus VIP books
  • Enjoy 10,000 always free books
Ratings
Book
3
Narrator
1
Release Date
June 2, 2015
Duration
10 hours 32 minutes
Summary
Winner of the Pulitzer Prize for History

Elizabeth A. Fenn radically changes our understanding of North America before and after the arrival of Europeans.

Encounters at the Heart of the World concerns the Mandan Indians, iconic Plains people whose teeming, busy towns on the upper Missouri River were for centuries at the center of the North American universe. We know of them mostly because Lewis and Clark spent the winter of 1804-1805 with them, but why don't we know more? Who were they really? In this extraordinary book, Fenn retrieves their history by piecing together important new discoveries in archaeology, anthropology, geology, climatology, epidemiology, and nutritional science. Her boldly original interpretation of these diverse research findings offers us a new perspective on early American history, a new interpretation of the American past.

By 1500, more than twelve thousand Mandans were established on the northern Plains, and their commercial prowess, agricultural skills, and reputation for hospitality became famous. Recent archaeological discoveries show how these Native American people thrived, and then how they collapsed. The damage wrought by imported diseases like smallpox and the havoc caused by the arrival of horses and steamboats were tragic for the Mandans, yet, as Fenn makes clear, their sense of themselves as a people with distinctive traditions endured.

A riveting account of Mandan history, landscapes, and people, Fenn's narrative is enriched and enlivened not only by science and research but by her own encounters at the heart of the world.
Browse By Category
Reviews
Profile Avatar Anonymous Jul 2020

did not like.. too slow moving

Encounters at the Heart of the World: A History of the Mandan People

Encounters at the Heart of the World: A History of the Mandan People

Author: Elizabeth A. Fenn
Read by: Christine Marshall
Listen Free Now Get any book plus
2 bonus VIP books
1 book added to cart
Subtotal
$26.99
View Cart